8: evolving education in myanmar: the interplay of state

8: Evolving Education in Myanmar: theinterplay of state, business and the

community

Marie Lall1

IntroductionHistorically, education has been seen as a tool of human-capital creation,especially in developing countries. The development theorists’ case forcompulsory education is based primarily on the link between mass educationand economic growth (rates of return from education) as well as on the linkbetween female education, fertility rates and public health. In short, the bettereducated a population, the healthier the population will be and the betterdeveloped the country will become. The role of the State has always been centralin delivering education and the prime role of the state education system is tounderpin the fulfilment of broader societal development goals. These goals couldpredominantly be economic, political, social or cultural, determined by thenational, regional and international contexts. There is, therefore, an obviousneed to adjust the content of education in a given context to changing societalconditions and needs over time. Underpinning the role of the State in educationis the acceptance, since the end of World War II, of education internationallyas a public good and the idea that the State has a responsibility towards itscitizens in providing at least a basic level of education for all.

In today’s globalising world, however, there is a shift away from perceivingeducation as a public good, as the private sector is increasingly involved indelivering education services (Ball 2007). Education reform, often pushed bythe International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank-sponsored structuralreform programs in developing countries, is not necessarily focused on povertyreduction and universal access, but on making education a business like anyother. The key World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement for this purpose isthe General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which incorporates theaim of unleashing progressive liberalisation of trade in services, including publicservices such as education. The WTO ‘education agenda’ is to facilitate thepenetration of education services by corporate capital. Education services areto be progressively commercialised, privatised and capitalised (Rikowski 2002,2008). The WTO’s view is that trade and investment liberalisation leads to morecompetition, greater market efficiency and so, necessarily, to a higher standardof living. Development, it is often argued, can be achieved most efficiently and

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effectively through private-sector involvement. The trend therefore is forincreased privatisation/commercialisation of education, reducing stateresponsibility vis-à-vis its citizens.

In practice, however, standards of living for many countries in the developingworld (with the exception of China) have declined absolutely or relatively(compared with the richer developed nations) in recent years (Chen and Ravallion2007). The education issues that have emerged in developing countries due toglobalisation are access to education and the digital divide, the commodificationof education through privatisation, ‘brain drain’ and the threat to the autonomyof nations for educational systems. While increasing private-sector involvementand privatisation is creating a two-track society within countries, it isincreasingly also creating a greater divide between richer and poorer nations.Both these problematic trends weaken the State. Against this backdrop, howshould we view private education and private-sector involvement in educationin cases where the State is already weak and not capable of providing adequateeducation? This chapter tries to address the problematic issue of private educationwith regard to Myanmar, a country in which state education does not coverminimum societal needs and in which civil society (Lorch 2007) and privatebusinesses have had to develop roles as alternatives.

The case of Myanmar is particularly interesting, as the standard of state educationhas declined markedly in the past few decades. At independence, Myanmar hadthe highest literacy rate in its own language across the former British Empire(Cheesman 2003). For many years, the level of education was one of the highestin Asia, prompting other Asian countries to see Myanmar as an example. Decadesof under-investment and civil strife, however, resulted in the slow and steadydecay of the state education system across the country. Despite the fact thatschool buildings continued to be built in cities and in villages during the socialistera, teacher education and teacher pay deteriorated markedly. The system hasnever recovered, and today Myanmar is facing an education crisis in its citiesand in rural and tribal areas.

In many areas, monastic schools have increasingly come to underpin the stateeducation system for the very poor. In tribal areas such as Kachin State, churchorganisations have played a similar, if slightly different role. With the adventof a small but increasingly affluent middle class, however, parents search for athird way to educate their children. Some of the very rich have sent their childrento international/diplomatic schools or overseas, however, the middle classes donot have the means to follow suit. Consequently, in urban centres, a large numberof unofficial schools in the private sector has sprung up teaching principallyEnglish and often other subjects as well. This is offered in addition to the statesystem, which remains compulsory. The cities, but Yangon in particular, areexperiencing an increase in the development of edu-business. As a result, unlike

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Dictatorship, disorder and decline in Myanmar

in other developed and developing countries, the privatisation of education inMyanmar represents not so much a threat to the strengthening of a nationaleducation system, but an alternative for the small but growing middle class inthe cities. This inevitably leads to a greater gulf between the urban elite and thewider, much poorer and often rural population. While the increased privatisationin most developing countries is to be deplored and increased marketisation isto be resisted by the government and parents, the case of Myanmar shows,however, that in this particular case private provision is one of civil society’sresponses to a state that no longer provides the minimum education needed byits citizens. This chapter will discuss how the private-sector schools are carvingout a new space between state education and civil society/communityorganisations.

This chapter is based on a number of interviews and observations conductedduring seven trips to Myanmar between 2005 and 2007. Most of the researchwas conducted in Yangon, but there was a field trip to Mitkyina (Kachin State)and the author also spent some time in Mandalay. A research assistant wasemployed to translate Burmese texts (newspapers and policy documents) and tocollect data from the private schools in Yangon.2 The chapter discusses theinterplay of the state and the private sectors and how these are creating a newdynamic in the education world of Myanmar. It will do so in the general contextof increased privatisation in developing countries, arguing, however, that inMyanmar the increased private-sector involvement is not ‘used’ by the State toreduce state education. The chapter will also discuss the effects of such privateinvolvement, which, as elsewhere, is increasing the divide between the emergingmiddle class and the broader and poorer population, who have no alternativeto the state system.

The issue of private-sector involvement—a globalphenomenonThe debate about education for profit is a contentious one, and one that has ledto a large amount of research (see, among many others, Ball 2007). The traditional,and largely Western, post-World War II view has been that education is a publicgood and should not be manipulated for private benefit. It is largely argued inthe literature that private companies should not be able to profit from governmentinvestment in education and also that they should not be able to shape theeducation that children receive in order to make more profit.

More recent trends in the West and in developing countries, however, show amajor shift in attitude—at the state/government level as well as among the middleclasses, especially in developing countries. The trend of allowing for more privateeducation and the increasing demand coming from certain sections of societyare of course congruous and largely a part of an increasingly globalised world.Contrary to expectations, even the poorest sections of society sometimes turn

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Evolving Education in Myanmar: the interplay of state, business and the community

to private provision, in the hope of giving their children a better future. Anexample of this is private slum schools in India, where parents can barely affordthe few rupees a day for school fees (see Srivastava 2008). This often results inthe State abrogating its responsibilities, as the private and the not-for-profitsectors offer alternatives for different sections of society.

As mentioned in the introduction, the WTO facilitates globalisation through theopening up of all spheres of social life—including public services—tointernational capital. In effect, the WTO’s education agenda is to facilitate thepenetration of education services by corporate capital. The key WTO agreementfor this purpose is the GATS. This agreement incorporates the aim of unleashingprogressive liberalisation of trade in services, including public services such aseducation. In the long term, no area of social life is exempt from thesedevelopments.

The UN Development Program (UNDP 1999), however, and others have warnedthat globalisation is increasing the gap between the rich and the poor, betweenconnected and isolated cultural groups and that inequality within countries hasincreased dramatically in the past 20–30 years. Global forces are also leading toincreasing population movement and thus to an exponential increase inintercultural interactions and exchanges. Whereas globalisation is opening doorsfor a highly mobile, highly skilled international elite, it seems to be closing themfor many others, who will either seek to escape or remain locked in poverty.

Consequently, the issue of private education and increased privatisation of stateeducation is problematic. The phenomenon is also different from country tocountry. Whereas in the United Kingdom, for example, it is more a case of‘commercialisation’ because the assumption is that the quality of public serviceswill be improved through the introduction of practices and the ethos typical ofcommercial practice, in India on the other hand, it is more about ‘marketisation’,because what is happening is the opening up of markets in areas where serviceswere formerly under state monopoly control. It is not, however, always as simpleas that; some of these markets are being quite carefully shaped with limitedprivate-sector involvement and close state control, while in other cases there isno state regulation whatsoever.

The debate universally is, however, summed up best by Hatcher (2001:58):

[T]he starting point has to be the recognition that there are two distinctlogics at work. One is a logic of education, based on social and individualneed, and notions of equity and democracy. The other is a logic ofbusiness, whose bottom line is profit. Not everything business wants todo is incompatible with education interests. But the logic of business isincompatible with the logic of education.

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The question with regard to Myanmar is how far these two distinct logics reallycontradict each other or whether private education is one of the ways forwardin the current difficult situation.

Education in Myanmar — past and presentThe debate about the purpose of education goes beyond theeconomic/development argument as all education systems have a politicalobjective: aside from human-capital creation, one of the primary aims of educationsystems in modern states is, and has always been, the political socialisation ofthe young. Education systems, especially in Asia, have their origins in processesof state formation aimed either at fostering resistance to the encroachments ofWestern and/or Asian imperialism, or at furthering post-colonial nation building.Definitions of national identity and visions of nationhood are often popularisedby governing elites. One can argue that education has been used as a politicaltool throughout the ages and across the whole world to define national identityand underlie the political rationale of regimes (Lall and Vickers forthcoming).This has also been the case in Myanmar, where, throughout the socialist period,but also beyond that, education has been used for political purposes, largely tounderpin the regime in power (Zarni 1998).

Since the end of the socialist era, however, and the opening up of the economy(and to a more limited extent the country) in the late 1980s, an interestinginterplay of issues can be observed: governmental control, under-investment inthe social sphere and a society searching for alternatives. As in most dictatorships,one of the reasons the military government has been keen to retain control ofeducation is largely because of the belief that an ‘independent’ way of thinkingposes a direct challenge to them. One could question whether theunder-investment in the education system was motivated by the politics ofcontrol—the military elite perhaps hoping that a less-educated population wouldpose less of a challenge. Due to its deterioration, however, Myanmar’s educationsystem has also become highly ineffective as a political tool. The interestingnexus here is between a policy of under-investment and a society that is lookingfor alternatives that could in effect threaten the State even more.

This section will briefly describe the background of education in Myanmarbefore moving on to the private supplements and alternatives that have startedto emerge in urban areas.

BackgroundThe British colonial period established three types of schools of which the twoupper-tier types were used to train people to fill the lower and middle ranks ofthe colonial administration, as they taught in English. The schools that taughtentirely in Burmese were, however, by far the majority of schools. In 1945, theDepartment of Education was formed under the British Government to implement

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the Simla Scheme of Educational Rehabilitation. The scheme was financed outof the military budget. At that time, 42 post-primary schools and 2060 primaryschools were opened. The Education Reconstruction Committee of 1947 decidedthat Myanmar needed a homogeneous system of schools and that the educationsystem had to be state provided and state controlled (Lwin 2000:5).

At independence, Myanmar had the highest literacy rate in its own languageacross the former British Empire. This was due not only to the Burmese schools,but largely to the monastic schools that had always played, and continue to play,a major role in educating the poorer sections of society (Lorch 2007). Today,Myanmar retains a very high literacy rate, with 89.9 per cent of adults and 94.5per cent of youth considered literate (UNESCO 2007). These statistics, althoughfrom a UN agency, are difficult to verify, but anecdotal evidence in urban areasshows most people reading on public transport and kerb-sides. The issue ofliteracy levels is therefore to be questioned largely in the rural areas.

For many years, other Asian countries saw Myanmar as an example in education.Decades of under-investment and civil strife have today resulted in the slowand steady decay of the state education system across the country. Despite thefact that during the socialist era school buildings continued to be built in thecities and in the villages,3 teacher education and pay deteriorated markedly. Itwas also at this time that Burmese was made the medium for teaching at allschools, abolishing the colonial legacy of English schools for the elite. In highereducation, however, this had repercussions as textbooks and other literaturewere not available in Burmese.

The state of education today: some different perspectivesDuring the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) period, allhigher-education institutions were closed for years at a time. After the studentprotest of 1988, all universities were closed for two years. Another series ofstudent strikes in 1996 and 1998 resulted in a further three years of closure. InYangon, between 1988 and 2000, universities were closed for 10 out of 12 years.After the reopening of universities and colleges in 2000, the government relocatedmany universities to different sites and undergraduate programs were movedto campuses far away from any urban centre. Consequently, higher educationby correspondence is taken up by those who cannot afford to live away fromhome. Keeping students away from cities is one of the ways the regime hopesto control any civil strife. Today, more than 700 000 students attend the 156higher-education institutions and there are 10 000 teachers. A further 13 000students are enrolled in one or two-year business-related courses (Zaw 2008a).Appendix 8.1 describes the structure of educational institutions in Myanmar.

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Education, and especially higher education, is often criticised in the press inMyanmar and there is no doubt that it encounters problems. In a response to acritical Burma Digest article, however, Aung Kyaw Soe (2006) claimed:

It may more correct to assess that [the] Education system is polarised,some students achieve more than others, either because of affordabilityof family, luck or hard work but I think we are seeing more Burmesegraduates with undergraduate education from Burma are doing well ingood graduate schools and work place[s]. I know more than 500 Burmeseengineers with their first degree in Burma and second or third degreesfrom good overseas graduate schools.

According to a 2007 Myanmar Times special issue on education, the governmentestablished a 30-year education development plan in 2001–02 in order to developa ‘learned society’ for the knowledge age, with the expansion of schools as apriority. The number of schools is said to have increased to more than 40 000,catering to eight million students (Zaw 2008b). Problems remain, however,especially with regard to access, quality and retention.

According to Khin Maung Kyi et al. (2000:145), the primary enrolment ratio ishigh. Nevertheless, primary education faces two main problems: there are notenough schools (the numbers range from one school for five villages to one schoolfor 25 villages in the border regions); and there is a high drop-out rate, estimatedto be about 34 per cent. The authors also point out the high repetition rate inrural and urban areas. UNESCO statistics are more positive: net enrolment ratesat the primary level are 100 per cent for girls and 98 per cent for boys; atsecondary level, the figures dropped to 43 per cent for both genders in 2005,with 91 per cent of all children completing primary education (UNESCO statisticsweb site 2005). This is in stark contrast with the report from the UN InternationalChildren’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in 1995 that states that about only 27 percent of all children completed five years of primary schooling and only 1.8 percent of those who entered primary school completed secondary school (UNICEF1995).

Another set of figures on Burmese education (Achilles 2005) cited net attendancein primary schools at 82 per cent for both genders (from 1998 to 2002) and thenumber of students who reached class five at 60 per cent officially andunofficially, based on surveys, at 78 per cent (for 1997–2003). Only 41 per centof boys and 38 per cent of girls (from 1998–2002), however, made it intosecondary school. Anonymous interviews in Yangon with an education charityconfirmed the high drop-out rates, explaining that children showed up for thefirst school day and that statistics were based on this, but that as soon as a fewdays into the school year children, especially in rural areas, stopped attending.In part, such drop-out rates are the result of the high direct costs of sendingchildren to school (such as buying books and uniforms). In rural areas, this is

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compounded by the high opportunity cost for parents who need their children’shelp working. Although schooling is free in principle, parents are expected tocontribute to the financing of education, as state expenditure on education as ashare of gross domestic product (GDP) is decreasing (Kyi et al. 2000:147). Thosewho cannot afford to attend state schools go to monastic schools or forgo theireducation altogether. Monastic schools were outlawed in 1962 during the socialistperiod and were allowed to return only in 1993. Today, however, 1500 monasticschools have been recognised by the government, catering for 93 000 children(Achilles 2005). In some cases, the building is provided by the State but parentshave to pool their funds to pay for a teacher; this is especially the case in remoteareas (Lorch 2007).

Jasmin Lorch has written about how community-based groups and especiallymonasteries have come to fill the void for poorer sections of society. She alsofocuses on the role played by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in puttingtogether informal education programs (Lorch 2007). Her paper, however, doesnot discuss the recent growing urban trend of private education, which catersto the middle and upper classes.

Private education in MyanmarIn the immediate post-independence period from 1948 to 1962, private and stateeducation were accepted in basic and higher education. During the socialist erabetween 1962 and 1988, however, private institutions were eliminated and theState dominated. According to the Myanmar Government web site(<http://www.myanmar.gov.mm/Perspective/persp1998/9-98/edu.htm>):

[T]hough the private sector has not yet formally been granted a statusof setting up Universities with privileges to confer degrees, it hasincreasingly played an important role in the education market inconsonance with the adoption of market mechanisms in the country’seconomy. The Private Tuition Law of 1964 permits setting up of privateschools to teach single subjects per se. Permission is not granted to setup private schools to teach the full curriculum.

Private schools, which emerged since the 1990s, have developed as businessesand are not necessarily regulated by the Ministry of Education. The Ministryof Education in fact expects all Myanmar children to be registered in state schools.Private provision is accepted only over and above state education, with theexception of international schools. Policy as to what can or cannot be taught inprivate schools seems to have been developed in the past few years as suchprovision has increased. In fact, such policies seem to change quite arbitrarilyand without much warning. The larger schools that operate as registeredbusinesses are less affected than the smaller community-based outfits, which donot have the same kind of recognised business status.

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Today, private schools have sprung up at pre-elementary, elementary, secondaryand higher-education levels to cater to the popular demands of the market inEnglish language, computing, accounting and business-related training. Someof them offer a wider curriculum, some focus on only a few subjects. Officially,private schools are not allowed to operate as an alternative to the statesystem—although there are a few that have a special status, such as the YangonInternational School and the Diplomatic School in Yangon. These privateorganisations—sometimes calling themselves schools and sometimes educationcentres—are also engaged in preparing students for examinations held byoverseas universities and professional institutes. Some schools are founded as abusiness company and some as a service company. Many insist on a low profileand many whom the research team wanted to interview refused to speak on therecord. Only a few, such as the ones detailed in the Appendix (but not limitedto these), will advertise widely and are accepted in some form and to some degreeby the government. This is the case largely because children of governmentofficials attend these schools.

The quality of the teaching and curriculum content varies from institution toinstitution and cannot be verified. The representative of the Summit InternationalCentre, who was interviewed, said: ‘Abroad they have organisations to controlthe private schools’ quality. So private schools must try to meet the requirementof the standard of this organisation. We should also have an organisation likethis here.’

There is also a distinction between private schools that act as supplementaryschools at the primary and secondary levels and the post-secondary-level schoolsthat prepare students for study abroad. A third category is international schools,such as the International, the Australian and the Diplomatic School in Yangon.Supplementary schools are the most common as children are expected to attendstate schools. In fact, the State tries to regulate these schools by limiting thenumber of subjects they can teach.

Primary and secondary supplementary schoolsOn the author’s first field trip to Yangon, for a conference in January 2005, Imet a businessman who had set up a school that was teaching in English. Theschool was at the primary level only and was meant as a supplement to regularstate-school attendance, teaching after official classes had ended. The school waslocated in the businessman’s house in a residential area in central Yangon. Itemerged during the next few meetings with other education specialists that suchschools were common, but there were no official data about how many therewere and what they taught. Interviews revealed that many taught only English,but an increasing number of schools offered a broader curriculum, some evenemploying English-speaking foreigners on an unofficial basis. A visit about sixmonths later revealed that there had been a ‘crackdown’ on such schools and

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that they were now allowed to teach only English and computing/informationtechnology (IT). The government was also trying to regulate this new marketby dictating what fees the providers could charge, aligning them with the (verylow) salaries teachers received in state schools. It emerged from interviews that,especially in secondary supplementary schools, under the heading ‘English’ anumber of social sciences such as history was being taught, and that IT alsomeant maths and science. In this way, a fuller curriculum could be maintained.Official fees, of course, could be supplemented through black-market cashpayments. A further closure of schools took place in May 2006, leaving only theelite schools that had direct support from the government (Burma Digest 2006).According to anecdotal evidence, however, between 2007 and 2008 large numbersof private schools seem to have reopened. Interviews across a number of schoolswith teachers, parents and principals revealed that the most important aspectof an expansion of the private-school system would be a change in governmentregulation, allowing for the full curriculum to be taught. Across the board, itwas felt that what was needed most was clarification of the status of privateeducation provision and clear directives on who was allowed to do what. Theregulation was enforced mostly by school closures on an ad hoc basis. Apartfrom the elite schools operating as large businesses, there seems to be no dialoguebetween the stakeholders and any of the relevant ministries.

Despite the tight regulation on curriculum content, fees and teacher salaries,some larger consortiums have managed to set up private schools and educationcentres around the country. The International Language and Business Centre(ILBC) is such a venture and caters to a wide age group of students of Englishand other subjects. It is perceived as one of the most popular educationinstitutions by the middle-class parents who were interviewed as a part of theresearch (Box 8.1).

Box 8.1

ILBC new class opens in Taunggyi and Lashio (Shan States)

According to the Managing Director, the International Language andBusiness Centre (ILBC), which has [the] most branches of private schoolsacross the country and is based in Yangon, opened new branches in twocities Taunggyi and Lashio in the Shan States. They will accept pre schoolstudents up to GCE ‘O’ for summer course[s] and for regular classes. ILBCis the first one among the private schools in Yangon and has threebranches in Yangon in Bahan, Tarmwe and Thingangyun with a total of450 students.

Khit Myanmar Weekly, 17 March 2006, vol. 3, no. 25, p. 3.

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Some private schools also operate with the help of volunteers. According to anarticle by Mara Khine (2006), a school named ‘Growing Together’ and teachingin English opened in Tharkayta Township, a suburban area of Yangon. It is runby Ma Khine Zar, who has a Masters degree in international relations, with thehelp of a Swedish ex-medical student and four volunteers. The school caters topre-elementary children and all students are aged from three to five years. KhineZar said the reason why they opened the school was so that children could learnEnglish early. At the time the article was published, they had 30 students. Itwas not clear from the article if the school levied fees.

Beyond ILBC—a business venture—and pre-elementary schools staffed byvolunteers, there are also summer schools that run like a business. An exampleis the Summit International Learning Centre in Yangon (Box 8.2). According toNi Ni Myint (2008), it is schools like these that have encouraged parents to turnto education as a means of creating a brighter future for their children.

Box 8.2

English for skills priority summer school open

The Summit International Learning Centre in Yangon will open a summerschool from March 6 to May 26, 2006 said the principal of this centre.The school will train English for skills using 50 per cent school time.Moreover, it will arrange mental maths, science & a social period. Thesummer courses are taken from International Courses which are speciallymade for summer class. The school will give original test books (notcopied in Myanmar). There will be three separate classes for age groupsbetween 4 to 12. There will be a school bus for the students. The schooltimes are from 9 to 2:30. After the summer class, it will open for regularclasses.

Khit Myanmar Weekly, 3 March 2006, vol. 3, no. 23, p. 2.

The Myanmar Marketing Research and Development (MMRD) publication calledThe Edge is a comprehensive listing of all educational institutions in Yangon,covering general education, language training, professional training andvocational training. Looking at the 2002 and 2007 versions, one can see a slightincrease in institutional numbers (detailed in parenthesis in the following:2002/2007). In the section entitled ‘General education’, the subheadings are ‘Daycare’ (61/68), ‘Kindergarten’ (17/19), ‘Pre-school’ (89/100), ‘Primary’ (18/16),‘Secondary’ (11—for 2007 only), ‘International schools’ (11/12) and ‘GCE’O’/SAT’(22). The total number in 2007 is 216 in Yangon alone. Other subheadings are‘Basic education schools’ and ‘Universities’ and ‘colleges’ (these last categoriesare the government institutions).

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It is clear from the listings that most private institutions cater to the pre-primaryage (which includes pre-school and kindergarten), nevertheless offering a varietyof subjects such as Myanmar, English, maths and general knowledge as well assinging, playing and drawing. In certain cases, other languages such as Mandarinare also on offer. The day-care centres/kindergartens cater to those aged fromthree to five, but some offer their services from the age of one. The prices (for2002) ranged from about 500–30 000 kyat a month. The older the children, thegreater the variety of subjects taught (including IT, geography, history, science,arts, physical education, and so on) and the more expensive they are. TheMontessori Children’s House seemed at the time to be the most expensivepre-primary option, at 45 000 kyat a month. Today, the fees are much higher,with the Summit International Learning Centre’s fee set at 75 000 kyat a month(Myint 2008). The parents, teacher and principals interviewed all accepted thefact that the private sector was available only to the upper echelons of societyand some families in the middle classes who were prepared to spend between25 and 50 per cent of their household income on fees. The representative of theSummit International Language Centre said in an interview that the school wasoffering its services at a reasonable price and tried to arrange lower fees forpoorer parents (‘Our school is sharing and caring’). The various interviews alsorevealed that parents chose schools on the basis of reputation and whether theyemployed foreign teachers. They saw the advantages for their children basedmainly on the proficiency of English acquired in such schools as well as aneducation system more closely related to the exams needed to study abroad.

International schools, pre-collegiate programs and highereducationAside from supplementary schools, there are other private education facilities.They are either international schools catering to the expatriate community andto some very rich Myanmar families or they are pre-collegiate andhigher-education programs that help their students leave Myanmar to studyabroad. The surge in the international education market started in Yangon in1997, as middle-class parents wanted opportunities for their children to studyabroad. Local entrepreneurs took risks by competing for contracts with overseasuniversities and colleges and by establishing private schools geared towardschildren who wanted to study overseas.

Winston Set Aung, a visiting lecturer in the Management Business Administrationprogram at the Institute of Economics, quoted in a Myanmar Times article, saidthere were qualified schools affiliated with famous overseas universities andcolleges and unqualified schools that had linked up with unknown foreignuniversities:

It is very easy to make a profit this way, so that’s why many privateschools try to work as brokers with overseas schools. [However] let the

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buyer beware. With more regulation for private schools, parents willsee a better value for their money, and unqualified schools will surelylose out. (Zaw 2005)

There are also private schools in Myanmar that teach the American or the Britishcurriculum and offer international qualifications. These schools start acceptingstudents at pre-kindergarten level and those who follow the American curriculumusually need to study up to grade 12. As for the schools that follow the Britishcurriculum, they prepare students to be able to sit for GCSE exams after thecompletion of matriculation, which is offered by the British Council Exams Unit.According to an article in Khit Myanmar Weekly (2006), more and more Myanmarstudents enter the Cambridge University exam every year. In 2006, there were30 students aged between nine and 13 who passed the exam. According to theBritish Council (<http://www.britishcouncil.org/eumd-information-background-burma.htm>), however, which is keen to market British highereducation, the Myanmar Government does not encourage international educationpromoted by the private-education sector:

Education authorities assume that the [growth of the] private sectorharms the image of state education and instead of improving their systemthey discourage the growth of the private sector. A few investors fromthe private education sector establish joint ventures with the Ministryof Education and only these ventures are free to promote their businessunder the umbrella of the education ministry.

The issue is particularly important in the higher-education sector, which usedto be a beacon of excellence in Asia. Today, there are 156 higher-educationinstitutions in Myanmar, of which 64 institutions are under the jurisdiction ofthe Ministry of Education (MoE) and 92 are under 11 other ministries and theCivil Service Selection and Training Board. All the higher-education institutionsare state financed. After finishing their matriculation, most students will go tostate universities or colleges for further studies. They do so at a comparativelyyoung age, as they finish school at the age of 16.

Due to the declining quality of the state education system, students and parentscrave better qualifications and study opportunities abroad. This is, however,an option only for the rich and upper classes, who can afford to send theirchildren abroad.

Although inflation in this country has been increasing year after year,wealthier parents have tried their best to enable their children to possessinternationally recognised certificates. Middle class parents often makevery considerable sacrifices to invest in their children’s future.(<http://www.britishcouncil.org/eumd-information-background-burma.htm>)

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The main market for international qualifications and preparation for these coursesexists principally in Yangon. Quite a number of education agents there representa range of study destinations in Singapore, Malaysia, the United States, Australia,New Zealand and Canada. There is, however, no official agent association toregulate these agencies. Increasingly, institutions from Singapore, Malaysia,Australia and New Zealand have become competitors for UK and US qualifications.Most of their customers are those who have their UK or US student visas rejectedor those who cannot afford the high cost of study options in the United Kingdomor the United States.

Recently, the Myanmar press seems to be more prepared to report about Myanmarstudents who pursue their studies abroad. The March 2008 special edition ofthe Myanmar Times focusing on education had a number of articles aboutstudying abroad and also featured interviews with students based in Singapore.In fact, according to Winston Set Aung, the research director at the AsiaDevelopment Research Institute, Singapore is now the preferred destination. Hesaid that students going abroad to further their education should not be viewedas a brain drain on Myanmar:

They will get international higher education experiences and goodconnections, which will be of benefit to our own country one day.Millions of Japanese and Chinese students have left their home countriesto pursue higher education abroad. Today Japan and China aredeveloping thanks to the combined strengths of their local graduatesand those educated in the foreign countries. (Winston Set Aung cited inKyaw 2008)

Australian universities also seem to be popular and the Yangon Institute forUniversity Studies (YIUS) pre-university level studies centre has helped morethan 30 students join Australian higher-education institutions (Thit 2008). Theyare not alone. Over the years, an increasing number of local professional trainingcentres/institutions has come into the market, offering preparatory courses forUK/US exams and professional qualifications to thousands of students. Thepre-collegiate program, based at the Diplomatic School in Yangon, is one suchprogram. The program is organised by an American couple resident in Yangoncooperating with Myanmar teachers. The aims of the program as stated in the2006–07 handbook are to help students develop their academic abilities so thatthey can gain acceptance to and possibly a scholarship from an American collegeor university or other English-speaking universities in the United Kingdom,Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Singapore or the Philippines.The program promises to help with visa applications, prepare the student forlife in a Western college environment and help with the planning of a careerback in Myanmar. To this end, Teaching of English as a Foreign Language(TOEFL) training is included as well as a curriculum encompassing comparative

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philosophy and literature, modern world history, environmental biology,comparative life cycles and literature in the English language.

Others who might not be able to pay for such courses rely on private tuition.This, however, can be problematic, as the summary of an article from LivingColour Magazine describes (Box 8.3).

Box 8.3

Private subject tuition are [sic] investigated

Private subject tuition has been investigated in the 2006–2007 schoolyear. This was announced on May 9, 2006 by No.3 Basic EducationDepartment under [the] Ministry of Education. The township chiefeducation officer is to instruct those who are providing tuition to applyto get permission to open the tuition class. The Township chief educationofficer has to report the tuition classes which are eligible within the rulesand regulations of the above department. The officer also has to reportthe illegible tuition classes. If some problems occur and if he does notreport them, he has to take responsible [sic] for all problems. The teachersfrom these tuition classes will be investigated too. If a school runs withoutpermission, it will be terminated in accord with the law of 1984 Rulesand Regulation of Private Subject Tuition.

Living Colour Magazine, vol. 132, July 2006, p. 18.

In hoping to give their children a better future with study options abroad,parents are also keen to send their children to formal institutions, although thequality of tuition is not verified or regulated. An article that appeared recentlyin the Voice weekly explains the situation (Box 8.4).

Box 8.4

Private schools ending with ‘School’ chosen over those that end with‘Centre’

If the name ends with ‘school’, private schools are more likely to bechosen than if it ends with ‘centre’ said a principal of the privateinternational school which opens in Yangon, Myanmar. The parentschoose this as it is related with the international private school field. Inthis field, more credible names end with ‘school’ rather than having aname ending with ‘centre’.

According to the same principal over ninety per cent of parents did notcheck the credibility of the school. These parents send their children towhat was perceived as popular schools [sic].

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Until recently there were just two private schools (the mostfamous)—whose names end with ‘school’—they are Yangon InternationalSchool (Shwe Taung Gyar Street, Bahan Township, Yangon) and theDiplomatic School (Shin Saw Pu Street, Sanchaung Township, Yangon).

The Voice Weekly, vol. 3, no. 30, 7 May 2007, p. 8.

Outside Yangon in an ethnic minority area: the case inMitkyinaThe situation in Yangon is atypical of Myanmar in general. While there aresimilar trends to be observed in Mandalay, other state capitals have feweralternatives to offer to the failing state system. On the Shan–China border, theauthor observed a number of Chinese schools. It was, however, not clear frominterviews if the parents sent their children only to these schools instead ofgovernment schools, or if these were supplementary schools. What was clearwas that parents had to pay for the schooling and for the books.

In Kachin State, various Christian churches supplement a large part of education.They see this as essential as the Myanmar system is based largely on Buddhistprinciples, while a large number of Kachin are Christian or animist. ‘Privateschools are not allowed, but when they [are] we will make it cheaper than goingto state school,’ one reverend said.

Some theology students and high-school teachers run a series of programs on avoluntary basis. They offer education and exam training to those who cannotafford the books and uniforms for the state-run schools. The program covers amaximum of four years and is offered in three centres across Kachin State. Thestudents can then pass the matriculation exam that is offered in the tenthstandard, which allows them to enrol at the higher-education level, mostlythrough the distance-learning programs.

Other supplementary schools operate on a more informal basis and are thereprimarily to help children understand and know their Kachin heritage. Kachinleaders who were interviewed differed in their views of how much of a threatthe increasing Chinese influence was to their Kachin and Christian cultures. Oneinterviewee in particular saw Chinese help as something that would counteractthe Bamar influence, which was still perceived as the product of an occupyingpower. The fact that the Chinese language was becoming the choice par excellencefor most parents was seen as a small price to pay. Another interviewee, however,viewed the Chinese influence with suspicion and said that unless a KachinChristian school was allowed to operate instead of the state school, parents wouldstart to choose Chinese alternatives. The people interviewed were interestedparticularly in raising funds to expand their Kachin cultural education. One of

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the members of the group wanted to cover a full and comprehensive curriculumso as to develop an alternative to the state system once such a thing was allowed.

Interestingly enough the one ‘private’ option that exists in Mitkyina is a Chineseschool and college funded by the Taiwanese Government. So close to the Chineseborder and with a number of trade routes linking Kachin State with YunnanProvince, one would have expected Chinese schools to have been set up, just asin Shan State. This was, however, not the case. As the Chinese language isbecoming increasingly important for trade purposes and consequently morepopular with parents, parents are sending their children to the Taiwan-fundedschool for their language training.

The connection between the Kachin and the Chinese is stronger than with theirother neighbour, India. One church leader who was interviewed said that India’sinfluence economically and in the education sector was negligible, but thathigher education in India was still seen as higher quality than the Chinesealternative and that those who could do so would cross the border to study inIndia at a higher-education level.

ConclusionThe deterioration of Myanmar’s education system underlies the low economicgrowth of the country. The economic side of Myanmar’s education story is notone that is hard to tell. As Lorch has stated, civil society has jumped in wherepossible, but without managing to replace the State in any significant way. Oneparticular section of civil society, the private sector, has used this businessopportunity to turn education into a private and profitable good. The interestingfact is that the increased private schooling is fuelling the gap in Myanmar’sauthoritarian logic. The regime has let institutions decay and has not providedthe resources needed to build a strong state education system. This is ashort-sighted tactic, as it in effect loosens the regime’s control over society. Theprivate sector’s education aims are profit, but they achieve this by encouragingan education system meant largely to help children leave Myanmar and studyabroad. Currently, education in English is the most desirable education parentscan acquire for their children. As this trend continues, the regime is allowing acondition that increases the absence of its legitimacy, because it equates goodeducation with foreign education. This problem goes beyond civil society simplypatching up an inadequate or insufficient social structure.

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ReferencesAchilles, J. 2005‚ ‘Das Bildungswesen in Birma/Myanmar—Erfahrungen zum

Engagement im Bildungsbereich’, in U. Bey (ed.), Armut Im Land derPagoden, Focus Asien nr. 26,<http://www.asienhaus.de/public/archiv/focus26-031.pdf>

Ball, S. 2007, Education PLC, Routledge, London.

Cheesman, N. 2003, ‘School, state and Sangha in Burma’, Comparative Education,vol. 39, no. 1, February, pp. 45–63.

Chen, S. and Ravallion, D. 2007, Absolute poverty measures for the developingworld 1981–2004, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4211,<http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2007/04/16/000016406_20070416104010/Rendered/PDF/wps4211.pdf>

Crouch, C. 2003, Commercialisation or Citizenship? Education policy and the futureof public services, Fabian Society, London.

Hatcher, R. 2001, ‘Getting down to business: schooling in a globalised economy’,Education and Social Justice, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 45–59.

Khine, Mara 2006, ‘Learning English young’, Ku Mu Dra Journal, no. 208, 10February 2006, p. 9.

Khit Myanmar Weekly 2006, vol. 3, no. 19, 3 February 2006, p. 5.

Kyaw, Htin 2008, ‘Human capital to be developed, not copied’, Education—TheKey to The Future, Myanmar Times Special Issue, 2–9 March 2008.

Kyi, Khin Maung, Findlay, Ronald, Sundrum, R. M., Maung, Mya, Nyunt, Myo,Oo, Zaw et al. 2000, Economic Development of Burma: A vision and astrategy, Olof Palme International Centre, Stockholm.

Lall, M. and Vickers, E. (forthcoming), Education as a Political Tool in Asia,Routledge, London.

Lorch, Jasmin 2007, ‘Myanmar’s civil society—a patch for the national educationsystem? The emergence of civil society in areas of state weakness’,SÜDOSTASIEN aktuell, issue 3/2007, pp. 54–88.

Lwin, Thein 2000, Education in Burma (1945–2000), chapter 3,<http://burmalibrary.org/docs/Education_in_Burma_(1945-2000).htm>

Myint, Ni Ni 2008, ‘Summer schools first step on path to brighter future’,Education—The Key to The Future, Myanmar Times Special Issue, 2–9March 2008.

Rikowski, G. 2002, Globalisation and education, Paper prepared for the Houseof Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs, Inquiry into the Global

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Economy, 22 January,<http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001941.htm>

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Srivastava, P. 2008, ‘School choice in India: disadvantaged groups and low-feeprivate schools’, in M. Forsey, S. Davies and G. Walford (eds), TheGlobalization of School Choice, Symposium Books, Didcot, Oxon.

Thit, Aye Thawada 2008, ‘Myanmar students choosing Australian and Singaporeunis’, Education—The Key to The Future, Myanmar Times Special Issue,2–9 March 2008.

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Zarni 1998, Knowledge, control, and power: the politics of education underBurma’s military dictatorship (1962–88), Unpublished thesis, Universityof Wisconsin, Madison.

Zaw, Minh 2005, ‘Interest in overseas education rises’, Myanmar Times, 8–14August 2005.

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Zaw, Minh 2008b, ‘Education system set to create learned society’,Education—The Key to The Future, Myanmar Times Special Issue, 2–9March 2008.

Translated articles from Myanmar newspapers and magazines such as:

Living Colour 2006–07.

The Voice 2006–07.

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Ku Mu Dra Journal 2006–07.

Khit Myanmar 2006–07.

Appendix 8.1 Structure of educational institutions inMyanmarThe Myanmar education system is governed through five departments—theDepartment of Basic Education, the Department of Higher Education, theMyanmar Examination Board, the Myanmar Education Research Bureau and theMyanmar Language Commission—which are each led by a director-general orequivalent. There is also a Council of the Universities Academic Bodies and aUniversities Central Administrative Council.

Basic education is divided into the normal mainstream as well as technical andvocational education. The time a child spends in the normal stream is five yearsin primary, four years in lower secondary and three years in upper-secondarylevels. According to government data, there were 7.2 million students with 224000 teachers and 38 800 schools in 1996–97. For technical and vocationaleducation, there are seven state agricultural institutes, 17 technical high schools,10 agricultural high schools, three commercial schools, two machinery repairand maintenance schools, 11 handicraft schools, six schools of home sciencesand two schools of fishery—a total of 58 in 1996–97. There are fiveteacher-training colleges, 14 teacher-training schools and three correspondencecourses for training various levels of basic education teachers. Today, there are38 universities, one management college and five degree colleges(<http://www.myanmar-education.edu.mm/moe_main/index.php>).

Appendix 8.2 Examples of private schools in Yangon

1. Horizon International Education CentreLevel/grade: from Nursery GCE A level

Number of students: more than 100 in every year (local and internationalstudents)

Number of teachers (total): 24

Local teachers: 14

Foreign teachers: 10

Education system (British, US or other): combined US and British system

Medium of instruction (English or Myanmar): English

Aids, tools and activities: computer, arts, gym, swimming pool (at Hotel NikkoRoyal Lake), school bus.

Foundation year (head office/main campus): 2000/Yangon

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Address: No. 21, Pho Sein Street, Bahan T/S, Yangon

Telephone: 72 8016, 54 3926

Web site: www.horizon.com.mm

Email: [email protected]

Campuses: Horizon Main Campus (Yangon), Horizon (KG I) (Yangon), Horizon(KG II) (Yangon), Horizon (Mandalay).

2. International Language and Business Centre (ILBC)Level/grade: pre-school to GCE ‘O’ level

Number of students: 450 (local and international students)

Total staff (teachers and others): 270

Founder: U Tin Maung Win, from Myanmar

Education system (British, US or other): using international system and ownsystem written by local experienced teachers.

Examination system: Common Assessment Test (exam plus activities in class andschool).

Aids, tools and activities: computer, arts, gym, library, canteen, swimming pool,school bus.

Foundation year (head office/main campus): 1995 March/Yangon


Campuses: Bahan, Tarmawe, Thingangyun (Yangon), Mandalay, Taungoo,Myitkyina (Kachin State), Lashio, Taunggyi (Shan State).

3. Summit International Learning CentreLevel/grade: junior nursery to kindergarten (primary class to open in 2007–08school year).

Student age: two to six for regular classes (from ages four to 14 for weekendEnglish classes).

Number of teachers (total): 13 (local and foreign)

Founder: Daw Win May Than, from Myanmar

Principal: Daw Win May Than

Education system (British, US or other): British

Aids, tools and activities: arts, swimming pool (at Summit Park View Hotel),school bus, outdoor activities.

Foundation year (head office/main campus): August 2006/Yangon

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Address: No. 248, Ah Lone Road, Dagon T/S, Yangon

Telephone: 72 2661, 72 5718

Web site: www.summit.bravehost.com


4. Nelson International Education CentreLevel/grade: pre-school (primary school will open in 2008–09 school year).

Student age: three to five.

Number of students: 60

Number of teachers (total): 12

Principal: Daw Myat Thin Zar Htun

Foundation year (head office/main campus): September 2006

Address: No. 3, Tha Pyay Nyo Street, Sanchaung T/S, Yangon

Telephone: 51 0612

Web site: www.nelc-centre.com

5. Ayeyarwady Media ServiceLevel/grade: IELTS preparation courses and TOEFL (this school started offeringEnglish classes at basic, intermediate and premeditate levels. It also offers aSingapore polytechnic preparation course and sends students’ applications toSingapore polytechnics. Cooperates with Temasak Polytechnic in Singapore,teaching Temasak’s first-year business course. Qualified students from this schoolcan receive a school grant from the Singapore Government.

Foundation year: July 2002

Consultant: retired professor of English Department of Yangon University

Course manager: retired associate professor (English Department of YangonUniversity)

Number of students: 17 last year; 36 this year (15 students now attendingsecond-year course in Temasak, Singapore, among whom 10 receive grants andfive pay their own expenses).

Target students: those from middle-class and higher-class families—especiallystudents who want to study abroad but have not qualified with high enoughscores, and whose parents can afford to pay for them.

Endnotes1 I would like to thank my Burmese research assistant, Thiri Zaw, who helped collect primary andsecondary data in Yangon for this research project.

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2 There is very little material on education in Myanmar available and this chapter reflects the paucityof resources in that it cannot often cite other research. A lot of what has been documented here stemsfrom the interviews conducted in the field and informal conversations with Myanmar citizens—somebut not all of whom were education specialists.3 This was the time of education expansion in physical terms as many new schools were opened andthe number of university students increased rapidly.

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8: evolving education in myanmar: the interplay of state

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